Geography visit to the East End

23rd September 2016

Writing: Matthew Dagnall (Year 12)

Photography: Matthew Dagnall (Year 12)

Editing: Thomas Fleetwood-Law (Year 11)

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This week all the A Level geography students had the opportunity to visit the East End of London as part of their Shaping Places unit.

The visit started with a train journey into Aldgate station before exploring Whitechapel high street. We observed the identity of the place under the shadow of the Gherkin. We studied the urban deprivation of the area and learnt about how this was an area shaped by migration. We then walked onto Fournier street, a street originally owned by French Protestants who came over to England to escape Catholicism.

We stopped for lunch at Spitalfield market, the world famous market which is the testing ground for any prospective business. We saw a variety of food and products being sold and it was a nice change from fast food.

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After lunch, the sun came out and we went to St Paul's Cathedral to see what sector all the jobs in the surrounding area fell into. It turned out most were in the service sector, as is the case with the majority of England. Then we went to Paternoster square and we saw the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, the economic centre of the whole country.

The final stop on the visit was to the Barbican Estate, the most expensive place in all of London. It was extremely interesting to see how it had been developed over time into such an upper class estate.

It was an enriching and enjoyable visit so thank you to Mr Abbas, Mr Davies, Mr Atkinson and Mr Bushe for taking us.